Silhouettes
by Kira The Wolf Demoness
Summary: Kagome is friends with Inori, a classmate of hers. She is very interested in traveling to other places, and in history. And she can keep a secret. So Kagome entrusts the girl with hers. But what fate will befall Inori in the Feudal Era?


Disclaimer: I do not, under any circumstances, own Inu Yasha or any of its characters. However, I do own Inori/Kaya. With out further upheaval, here is the first chapter of 'Silhouettes'. This is my first Inu Yasha fic that I plan to publish, so bear with me. And keep the flames on low, if you must flame at all. I put my heart and soul into everything I write, right down to the very last haiku. And you have no idea how much it hurts for me to be flamed.  
  
Chapter One: Inori  
  
"Inori Nagasaki, you'll be late for school! Get up, NOW!" Inori heard her mother scream from downstairs. She sat bolt upright in bed and looked at the clock. She stared at it for a few seconds, then the springs popped out. Oh the joy.  
  
"Wonderful....I'll be down in a minute, Mom!" Inori yelled, falling out of bed. She struggled from the covers, hopped in the shower, and got dressed. Half a minute later she had her shoes on and was out the door.  
  
The seventeen-year-old girl ran off towards her dreaded nemesis, school. Her grades were so-so, and she was a real klutz. So she wasn't really all that popular. But there were people who liked her, and tried to make improvements upon her. She had really pretty green eyes, and black hair that fell a little past her hips. Although, not many people know what her hair color really was, considering that half the time it was purple or blue or some other color like that. She had really bad taste in guys, so as of then she'd sworn them off. See, every time she started to like a guy, she'd end up getting hurt. Never failed. So, for then, boyfriends were off limits, and she was sticking to shopping and terrorizing preppies with her friends. The joys of teenage singularity were apparently boundless.  
  
"Inori, it's about time, we thought you'd never make it!" a girl called to her as she ran into the classroom. The teacher hadn't arrived yet, so she wouldn't be counted tardy.  
  
"Kagome, you KNEW I was going to be a little late....and, by the way, how is your diabetes? Is it acting up again?" Inori said, looking at her sympathetically. Kagome fell over in her seat. At that moment, the teacher walked in.  
  
Throughout that class period, Inori mostly stared out of the window. She kept wishing she were somewhere else. On top of that, she had the song Ourselves, by Ayumi Hamasaki, running repeatedly through her head. So, even if she wanted to pay attention, she really couldn't. She just ran her fingers through her long hair, which was dark green at the time.  
  
Around lunch, when she walked outside to sit by the flowers like she always did, Kagome approached her.  
  
"Hey, Inori! You looked like you were somewhere else during class today....were where you, Saturn?" Kagome joked. They both laughed for a minute and Inori looked at her with a small smile on her face.  
  
"I was....just dreaming. You know me, I wanna be anywhere else but here." Inori said. They carried on a very interesting conversation about places they wanted to go one day, and places they had been. Kagome almost let it slip about how she could go down the bone eater's well and into the feudal era.  
  
"You know what I think?" Inori asked, giving Kagome an excited look.  
  
"I'm afraid to ask....but what?" Kagome replied.  
  
"It would be so totally neat if we could just go to the past. I wanna see if all those legends about demons being in the feudal era are true!" Inori said, leaping from her spot on the concrete flower bed. She dropped the rice cake she'd been eating on the ground. "Oh, crap."  
  
Kagome laughed and the wheels started turning. Then she had an idea. "Inori, how long have you been able to keep a secret?" Kagome asked her, looking very serious.  
  
"I've kept a secret now for ten years. I still haven't opened my mouth about it. Why?"  
  
"I have a secret for you....but you can't tell a soul....and I can't tell you here. Come spend the weekend at my house, and I'll show you."  
  
"What....kind of secret?"  
  
Kagome laughed. She just gave her a look, and said "It's not a BAD secret....but you'll have to wait until you come over tonight to find out. Oh, and....bring enough clothes for....oh, let's say about seven outfits, okay?" Inori stared. What was she thinking? She would humor her, though, because she'd finally earned herself a friend who thought she could trust her.  
  
"All right.I'll be there about five this afternoon."  
  
"Great.well, last two classes....we'd better get going."  
  
"You're right." She rose from her spot and started walking towards the locker rooms....she had Phys. Ed next.  
  
That afternoon, Inori walked to Kagome's house with her backpack, and was greeted a third of the way up the shrine steps by Kagome's brother Souta. She smiled and started up the rest of the stairs with him at her side. She knew that he'd had a crush on her for a very long time. But he must have suddenly gotten bolder, because halfway up, he took her by the hand. Not like a friend or a little sibling, but with his fingers laced in hers, like a lover. Inori looked down at him and blushed. "S-Souta! What's gotten into you?"  
  
"Inori, you know I like you a lot, don't you?" Souta told her, averting his eyes from her and blushing a little bit. Inori blushed a bit in spite of herself, but smiled gently. Once they got to the next landing, she stopped and bent to his level, gripping his hand gently.  
  
"Souta...I really am flattered that you like me so much. Really I am. And rest assured that if we were the same age, I would gladly be your girlfriend. You're very sweet. But you're much younger than I am, and it wouldn't be right. I'm sorry. Really. But we can still be very good friends." She told him. Souta looked away from her for a second.  
  
"Friends with benefits?"  
  
"Watch it, kiddo. You may be awfully cute, but that's not an excuse to be a little pervert." Inori said. She smiled at him and gave him a soft kiss on the cheek. She looked at him blush, and then looked up the stairs, seeing Kagome's grandfather.  
  
"Ah, what have we here? A little love affair?" he said, continuing to sweep. Inori gave him a look.  
  
"Souta wishes. I'm here to spend the weekend with Kagome." She told him as she passed him. Souta changed his grip on her hand as they passed. Inori turned to him and gave a sly grin. "Race you to the top!" she shouted, letting go of his hand and taking off running. Souta smiled and took off after her.  
  
"Hey! No fair! You got a head star-hey!" Souta cried, banging into his older sister. Kagome gave Inori a look that read 'Get your hiney up here before I go get Buyo!'  
  
She walked with Kagome over to the huge, ancient tree in their shrine. Kagome heaved a huge backpack onto her back and looked at her. "You ready for me to share my secret?"  
  
"Kagome, you're taking her with you?! How come I can't go?!" Souta whined, latching on to Inori's arm.  
  
"You've seen what comes from there. She hasn't. Besides, she's more eager to go than you know." Kagome said, walking over to the well house and opening the door. Inori messed up Souta's hair and walked into the well house with Kagome, giving her a funny look.  
  
"Um, Kagome? Where are we going?"  
  
"You wanted to see the feudal era. Here, hold this." She said, handing her a sliver of what seemed like a jewel. "And jump down into the well on the count of three."  
  
"Kagome, I-I"  
  
"You have to trust me." Inori gulped. She knew Kagome wouldn't do anything to hurt her. So she stood next to Kagome at the mouth of the well. Kagome took her hand. "You have to not be scared of anyone you meet once we get back out, okay?"  
  
"Okay. I won't be."  
  
"Ready? One..."  
  
Inori shut her eyes. "Two..."  
  
"Three!" they cried together, jumping into the well. Inori felt a warm tingly sensation on her legs as she hit what she thought was the bottom of the well. But she fell through. She opened her eyes and saw a fantastic sight, many multicolored balls of light passing them. Then they softly hit the ground and Kagome let go of her.  
  
"And now, we struggle to climb ourselves out. Or maybe...we can get some help..." Kagome said, setting down her bag for a few seconds to rest her shoulders. "HEY!" she cried out of the well, "ANYONE UP THERE?" Inori stared in wonder. What on God's green EARTH had just happened? Her thoughts were interrupted by a rough boy's voice coming from topside.  
  
"I hear you, you stupid girl. Throw up your bag and I'll pull you out." The voice said. Kagome slid her own bag up, followed by Inori's. Then two hands joined her own and pulled her up. More than one person greeted Kagome, by the sound of it, another male voice, a small child, and a woman. She heard Kagome say something about 'A new addition', and the woman whose voice she'd heard looked over the side of the well at Inori. She had long black hair, and it seemed to be tied around the bottom.  
  
"Miroku, get her up! She looks terrified." The woman said, moving away. A short-haired boy she assumed was Miroku came to the side of the well and offered his hands to her.  
  
"Well then, Sango. Up she comes. You don't have to be afraid, miss. She won't bite you, neither will I. Inuyasha, however, might." Inori risked a laugh and walked to the well wall. She jumped and grabbed his wrist, and felt herself pulled up into the sunlight. She looked at her new acquaintances and smiled like an idiot. Sango, Kagome, and Miroku smiled back.  
  
"Am I in the feudal era of Japan?" Inori wondered aloud. She felt herself grabbed about the waist and hoisted into the air. She cried out in surprise, closed her eyes and started beating on whatever it was that had her. She heard a boy laugh, and opened her eyes. A smirking, silver-haired boy, clad in a red kimono, greeted her. He had dog-ears. She was amazed to discover that this didn't at all distress her. She had been hitting him in the chest very hard, and she gave an apologetic smile. "Sorry if I hurt you." She said to him. "You shouldn't have done that, though."  
  
The boy laughed. "You didn't hurt me. I'm half demon; you'd have to beat on me for a couple of hours before I got sore. Name's Inuyasha. Who're you?" he asked, giving her a studying look.  
  
"My name's Inori. Nice to meet you, Inuyasha. And Sango, and Miroku." She added, smiling at the two who had first seen her. Kagome walked up to her with a bright-eyed child with pointy ears on her shoulder.  
  
"Inori, that means prayer, doesn't it?" the child said. Inori smiled.  
  
"My father said I was an answered prayer, a gift to my mother from above." She said. The child smiled at her.  
  
"I'm Shippo!" he said. "Nice to meetcha! Why's your hair green?" Kagome laughed. Inuyasha gave Inori a funny look, and she stopped.  
  
"What's the matter, Inuyasha?" Kagome asked.  
  
Inuyasha was eyeing Inori awfully carefully. "Inori doesn't...smell right."  
  
Inori stared, wide eyed, at the half demon in front of her. "Excuse me?"  
  
Sango put a hand on her shoulder. "He doesn't mean you smell bad, it's just your blood he's smelling." Inori sighed.  
  
"Yes, Inuyasha is a bloodhound. Sort of. I don't know how else to say it." Miroku added. Inori was surrounded on all sides now, and felt very closed in. She backed up into Miroku and looked up into his eyes. He took her by the arm and sat her down on the side of the well, looking back up to the group. "Let her breathe, she's not used to this." He said to them. Inuyasha walked up and knelt in front of her. He put his forehead on her shoulder and stayed there for a full minute, Inori looking alarmed at Miroku.  
  
"You're not human." He said into the nape of her neck. Inori gasped and sat up straight, her breathing becoming more heavy and audible to Inuyasha's ears. "You're a wolf. I can smell it on you." Inori looked like she was about to cry, she was so terrified.  
  
"How do you know what I am? You don't know me!" she said, blinking back tears. Inuyasha backed up from her and took her wrists in his hands. It looked like he could've thrown her into the well.  
  
"You didn't know you were half demon, then?!" he asked. Sango made to go get her, but Kagome shook her head and put her arm out to stop her. Miroku slid his staff into Inori's lap, giving her a look she could easily read: 'If he gets fresh, you can whack him with the staff.' Inuyasha let her wrists go roughly, leaving scratches on her. "Damn wolf."  
  
"If...if I AM a half demon...then it would be best if I didn't go home?" Inori asked. Kagome let out a little squeak. Inori cast her eyes up to the trees around them. "There's someone here." She said. "I can feel it. Like a hunch. A bad one."  
  
"Where?" Inuyasha asked, unsheathing a rather large sword from a WAY smaller sheath. Inori asked no questions, and pointed to the spot gazing back at the ground. "GET OUTTA THERE!" Inuyasha yelled. Miroku took up his staff and gave Inori's shoulder a rub, gave her a gentle smile, and turned to the source of the trouble.  
  
"Alright already, you can put away the Tetsusaiga." A boy called out, stepping from the bushes. He was clad in wolf furs and armor, and had brilliant blue eyes. His hair was jet black, pulled up in a ponytail in the back with a headband of wolf fur. He smirked at Inuyasha, and Inori spotted fangs before she looked down again. "Kagome's well, I see-and who's she?" he asked, nodding at Inori.  
  
"Now hold on a second, Kouga!" Shippo shouted. Sango grabbed him before he lunged.  
  
"Why do you want to know?" she asked him. Kouga shrugged and looked to Miroku and Inuyasha. Miroku started to say something, but Inuyasha cut him off. He grabbed Inori by the wrist and threw her to him. She felt Kouga catch her. But just kept her gaze downward.  
  
"She's one of yours. So take her and get lost." Inuyasha said. Kagome started yelling at him, shouting words that made her own ears go almost numb with shock. But Kouga paid them no heed. He looked down at the green haired, trembling girl with wonder.  
  
"Fine. I can take better care of her than you. Throwing a girl about like that...have you no mind at all, Inuyasha?" Kouga said. He lifted her off her feet and turned away from them. He took off into the twilight, and Kagome gaped.  
  
"Inuyasha?"  
  
"What?"  
  
"HOW AM I GONNA EXPLAIN TO BOTH INORI'S PARENTS AND MINE WHAT HAPPENED TO HER?!"  
  
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Okay guys, that was the first chapter. I know, it was really bad, but the story gets better once we get to focus on the two main people only, Kouga and Inori. See you soon!  
  
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